Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

Sending out invitations

Some more Minor League contracts were handed out by the Blue Birds today. Toronto inked outfielder Jason Lane and infielder Brandon Fahey to add some more depth and tacked on invites to Spring Training for the pair of players.

To date, that’s seven Minor League deals with invitations to spring camp for the Jays this winter. The others were for Mike Maroth, Matt Clement, Michael Barrett, Raul Chavez and Randy Ruiz. No big spending sprees for Toronto, but plenty of low-risk additions to guard against any injury mishaps this spring.

Also this week, the Jays dismissed assistant GM Bart Given, who was one of three assistants to J.P. Ricciardi. Given’s duties will be passed along to assistant GMs Tony Lacava and Alex Anthopoulos. The timing of the firing was a bit odd, and reportedly happened on Wednesday — one day after Given was in attendance at the State of the Franchise event.

Today on BlueJays.com, I rolled out the first of four stories highlighting the contenders for the Jays’ Nos. 4-5 jobs in the rotation. Today’s story keys in on Casey Janssen, and I’ll follow with stories on Scott Richmond, the reclamation projects (Maroth and Clement) and the prospects (Cecil, Romero, Mills) all being discussed in the rotation competition.

As of right now, Ricciardi said Janssen is in the rotation. So, that means it’s Roy Halladay, presumably followed by Jesse Litsch, David Purcey and Janssen. That would leave Richmond to fight it out with Clement/Maroth for the last spot. Then again, Ricciardi said he’s not ruling out a guy like Cecil earning a job.

———————–

Beyond baseball, this is one of my favorite times of year: Oscar season. I have yet to see all the contenders, but of the one’s I have seen, I definitely recommend The Wrestler, Frost/Nixon, Slumdog Millionaire, Doubt and Gran Torino. I was somewhat disappointed with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and didn’t think it deserved all 13 of the nominations it received. The Dark Knight and The Wrestler were snubbed big time as well.

And, if there are any Flight of the Conchords fans among my readers, did you guys catch Episode 2 of the second season on Sunday night? Hilarious stuff. I got Season 1 over Christmas and have been loving that show.

~JB

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The Yankees’ lack of a viable center fielder combined with the Blue Jays’ dubious financial situation paves the way for an intriguing intra-divisional blockbuster. New York might send outfielder, Xavier Nady; young starter, Ian Kennedy and prospect, Austin Jackson north of the border in exchange for center fielder, Vernon Wells.

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